Why dogs eat poop – the most common reasons

Dogs are considered man’s best friend, but owning a dog implies numerous responsibilities and you have to take great care of it. Besides offering it the right food, it is important to make sure it gets enough exercise, it is clean and most important healthy. It might happen though for your dog to experience changes in behavior due to certain reasons and some examples of strange behaviors are eating grass or even poop. Do you want to know why do dogs eat poop? Well, you can find some possible reasons in the article below.

It seeks for your attention

One of the possible reasons why dogs sometimes eat poop is because they seek for their owners’ attention. It is commonly known that dogs respond to certain human reactions and commands, so if you usually react loudly the moment you see your dog reaching for some poop, your dog might interpret this reaction as a form of getting your attention.

To avoid punishment

Another possible reason for this strange behavior is because the animal is trying to avoid punishment. If you have reacted loudly or in a specific way when it pooped in a specific area, it might interpret this as a form of avoiding punishment through disposing the evidence.

They imitate other dogs

If you usually take your dog to the park where it meets other dogs, it is for sure that your dog will come back home with some “borrowed” behaviors and one of them could be eating poop. It is commonly known that some dogs imitate what they see in other dogs they know.

It gets bored

Believe it or not, dogs do get bored sometimes and when this happens, they start behaving quite strange and do things that are no considered normal or healthy. It is worth mentioning that one possible reason why your dog eats grass or even poop is that it is bored. It is recommended to make sure it gets enough physical exercises and it is taken outdoors at least once a day, even though you live in a studio apartment. Take your dog out when you go jogging, or take it to the park in the evening and throw it a Frisbee to make it consume its energy, so that when you two get back home, boredom would not be an issue anymore.

It does not get enough nutrients

Although this should never happen, dogs might eat poop when they are poorly fed or do not get enough nutrients from the food they are provided with by their owners. It is highly important that your dog gets food that is specifically designed for its age, weight and race in order to make sure it is healthy and in good shape.

If you still do not know why your dog experiences such strange behavior, you should definitely consider taking it to the vet, because the veterinarian knows exactly what tests to do in order to determine correctly the reason why your dog eats poop.